Since leaving the UK in 2021, we have visited so many amazing places and have been in awe of the magnificent scenery that we have been fortunate to experience. Sydney may not have crystal blue waters, white sands and palm trees, but, with its city skyline, Harbour Bridge and Opera House, it is still spectacular.
Port Jackson is an extremely busy area, bustling with pleasure boats, ferries, commercial trip boats, cargo ships and cruise liners. Everywhere you look people are travelling across the water. Surprisingly though, it is not particularly easy for cruisers to visit. There are many marinas, but they are usually full of long term berth holders. The numerous bays are mostly crowded with private moorings and the shoreline is covered with waterfront housing. All of this makes it difficult to find somewhere to anchor/moor the boat and then very tricky to get ashore by dinghy. We spent many hours researching the options, using boating apps, navigational charts and speaking to others. With all of this knowledge, we manged to stay in Sydney for four weeks from mid December to mid January. During this time, we used a mixture of anchoring, 24 hour public mooring buoys and even squeezed in a marina for a week!
Our first couple of nights, we were at the northern side of the Port Jackson area, and picked up public moorings, first at Balmoral and then at Manly. This worked really well for us, especially as they are free! It gave us the chance to start to get our bearings and begin to suss out the city life. We loved Manly: a bustling seaside town with many places to eat and a long sandy surfing beach.
From here, we moved to the centre of Sydney. Motor sailing under the Harbour Bridge and then under the Anzac Bridge, we managed to find a spot to anchor right near the central business district at Rozelle and Blackwattle Bay. We were really impressed with this anchorage. From what we had read, we were expecting it to be very industrial, but one side of the anchorage had large open park land which gave it a relaxed feel. There was not a lot of room here as, due to the flow of commercial traffic, there were large ‘no anchoring’ areas. However, it had superb access to the city and amazing views, especially at night.
Sydney has a brilliant public transport system and we made the most of it, travelling on buses, trains and ferries. We explored the city, visiting many places including the Rocks, Circular Quay, Hyde Park and the Botanic Gardens. We walked along the water front to get stunning views of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge and even walked across the Bridge to see things from a different angle. So many photographs!
After much emailing, we managed to secure a berth at Gladesville Bridge Marina. We were stunned by the ‘Ouch’ prices, but it was a perfect place for us to leave Escapade over the Christmas period. It was great to be able to stay ashore for a few nights, have transport for a few shopping jobs and experience an aussie Christmas Day. Many thanks to Lindy (and her family) for their hospitality.
Gladesville is a little further away from central Sydney, but it was a great place to access the UNESCO World Heritage site, Cockatoo Island – an island with an extremely interesting history. Between 1839 and 1869, it was a convict penal colony, generally housing re-offending convicts. The island was also home to a major shipbuilding and repairs facility. This opened in 1857 and the first two dry docks were built by the convicts. The yard continued to service and build ships until 1991 when it was closed. Many of the original shipyard buildings were demolished, but enough still remain to offer a fascinating insight into the island’s past.
While in Gladesville, we also headed across to Nielsen Park to watch the start of the 2023 Sydney Hobart Race. We arrived in plenty of time and got a prime spot right next to the start line. At 1pm the boats set off on the 630nm (1170km/727 miles) race. 87 boats started the race, ranging from 32 feet (10m) to 97 feet (30m). These were escorted out of Port Jackson by 100s of pleasure craft and trip boats. We were so glad we weren’t on the water; it looked like chaos!
Once Christmas was over, it was time to prepare for the visit of our son, James. Time was spent sorting out the boat, so he had somewhere to sleep, buying plenty of food and finalising the itinerary. Those of you who know us, know that James is not keen on sightseeing and culture, so the programme was planned to be active.
The busy itinerary started with a skywalk around the Westfield Tower; an open air walk around the tallest building in Sydney. At 268m, it is twice the height of the Harbour Bridge and affords amazing views of the city and beyond. The weather that day was superb and we could see for miles in every direction. We even spotted the Blue Mountains, 80km away.
The active theme continued with a few hours surfing at Manly beach. Not for me, but James and Martin had a 90 minute group lesson. After a quick instructional session ashore, it was into the sea. It was very hard work for them to walk out through the surf, but they both managed to catch a few waves. Not bad for first timers.
We like to fit in dives whenever we can, so we booked to dive with Botany Bay based, Abyss Scuba Diving. Unfortunately, Martin had a head cold and couldn’t equalise his ears, so this time it was just me and James.
We had six dives with Abyss, two shore dives and four boat dives. Diving at The Steps at Kurnell, Xanadu, Osbourne Shoals and Magic Point we felt that we had been given a good idea of diving in the area. Compared to other locations we have dived, it was very cold and the visibility was poor (at best 10m, at worst about 2m). However, but we certainly saw some interesting marine life. Some strange looking creatures that we have never seen before – weedy sea dragons and wobbegongs. Unfrotunately, the poor visibility meant that there are no pictures, so you will just have to goggle them.
It was not always sunshine for James’ visit and a rather wet afternoon was spent at Tree Tops Adventure. Here we completed aerial challenges up to 10m high, including balancing on precarious rope bridges and zooming down ziplines – not for the faint hearted.
On another afternoon, we completed our (Martin and my) first Escape room. Hosted by Escape Hunt Sydney, we tried out their Level 3 Bank of Australia Heist room. This is based on a real bank robbery which happened in Sydney in 1920. When we arrived, the scene was set for us. The bank manager had been found shackled and the criminals had fled. We, Sydney’s elite police, had to use our investigative skills to find the thieves before they left the city. We had one hour to solve the clues, retrieve the loot and work out who the robbers were. We succeeded with 8mins 59 seconds to spare. Teamwork!
Conventional sightseeing was not on the list, but a great way to see the harbour area was the Thunder Extreme Adrenaline Rush Ride. We were treated to 45 minutes of a fast boat twisting and turning throughout the Port Jackson area. We got very, very, very wet even with our fashionable purple ponchos.
Added to all this activity, we fitted in…a Comedy night in Kings Cross, a Korean BBQ in Chinatown, a slap up lunch at the Sydney Fish Market and several visits to the historic Rocks with its old pubs, happy hours, $1 wings , kangaroo, emu and crocodile pizza and live music.
Finally, the big event….New Year’s Eve fireworks! A must do, when you are in Sydney over the festive period.
We knew that the harbour area was going to be bursting at the seams with boats, so, having researched the best place to view the celebrations, we arrived two nights early to bags our spot at Athol Bay, next to the Taronga Zoo. We anchored a little way from the shore, hoping that the deeper water would put people off anchoring in front of us. It worked… we did get had a few boats between us and the Bridge, but nothing to block our view. It was a perfect view.
There were various events on the build up to the main event, including a smaller firework display at 9pm, but as the clock struck midnight, the spectacle began. Twelve minutes of show stopping fireworks, not only from the Bridge, but also from several floating barges anchored in the bay. Wow, wow, wow!
Happy New Year!!!
What a hectic week with James and amazing activities I bet he loved it (Martin too) did you really leave in 2021 I thought it was 2022 how time flies, enjoy xxx
Hi,
Great to hear from you. Hope you are both well.
Time definitely flies…
Yes we had a busy time in Sydney with James and we were ready for a rest when he left!
X
So glad you enjoyed your time in Sydney. You certainly gave James a great time! It was wonderful to see you again. X
Yes we really enjoyed Sydney and reckon we saw a few of piste things too!
Great to catch up with you again and many thanks for letting us stay and running us around.
Hope to see you again ….who knows where. Maybe the Caribbean 😎